The tropical climates are located between parallel tropic called Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn in a strip located to both sides of the equatorial line or Ecuador.
This strip is geographically located between 23 ° north latitude and 23 ° south latitude, approximately.
The climate of this area is characterized by having an average or annual average temperature greater than 18 ° C, and no frosts occur in it, since they always stay above 0 ° C.
Neither are arid zones located in this strip of tropical climate. On the contrary, being an extremely humid climate, it enjoys abundant rains.
Parallel and tropics
It is convenient to first clarify some concepts to better understand in which parallels tropical climates are located. The terms parallel, meridians, latitude and longitude will be described below.
Parallel
They are called parallel to the imaginary circles or lines that are drawn “parallel” to the equator, whose length is reduced as they move away from the equatorial line until they become just a point at the poles.
They are also called lines of latitude and are numbered from 0 °, starting from the equator, to 90 ° at the poles.
Meridians
Meridians are imaginary lines that run vertically from pole to pole.
They are also known as lines of longitude, and are numbered from 0 ° to 180 °, starting from the 0 ° meridian, or Greenwich meridian, both to the east and to the west.
Latitude
It is the distance measured in degrees between any parallel and the equator.
Depending on the hemisphere in which a point on the terrestrial globe is to be located, latitude is measured north or south of the zero parallel or equator.
Length
Longitude is the measure in degrees of the arc that extends between the zero meridian or Greenwich meridian, and the meridian that passes through a certain point.
Depending on the direction in which a particular point is relative to the Greenwich meridian, longitude is measured to the east or west of that meridian.
Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn
If the parallels are located using the geographic coordinate system, both would be exactly located from latitude 10 to 25 ° north (Tropic of Cancer), and from 5 to 23 ° south latitude (Tropic of Capricorn).
The parallel known as the Tropic of Cancer passes through the following countries (the starting point is the Atlantic Ocean heading east): the “non-autonomous” territory of Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali, Algeria, Niger , Libya, Chad, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, India, Bangladesh, Burma, China, Taiwan, Hawaii (US), Mexico, and Bahamas.
On the other hand, the parallel called Tropic of Capricorn crosses the following countries: Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar and Australia.
References
- Sánchez, M. (June 6, 2016). Excerpts from the meteorologiaenred website, “The tropical climate”. Recovered from meteorologiaenred.com.
- rea.ceibal.edu.uy. (without date). Excerpts from the article "Meridians and parallels". Recovered from rea.ceibal.edu.uy.
- es.vikidia.org. (without date). Excerpts from the article "Tropical Climate". Recovered from es.vikidia.org.
- Educational Portal. (August 3, 2011). Excerpts from the article "Latitude and longitude". Recovered from portaleducativo.net
- Es.wikipedia.org. (June 8, 2006). Excerpts from the article "Tropical Climate". Recovered from es.wikipedia.org
- Tercerodeprimariaamordedios.blogspot.com. (without date). Excerpts from the blog The virtual explorers, "Division of the Earth in Imaginary Lines: Parallel and Meridians." Recovered from thirddeprimariaamordedios.blogspot.com